See You At SXSW Sydney In
Days
Hours
Minutes
The very first sessions of each day at SXSW Sydney are where ideas ignite, energy lifts, and conversations begin that shape the day ahead.
Make sure to pick up your pass early to walk straight in, coffee in hand and ready to hit the ground running without delays. For those attending on Monday morning, you can collect your pass on Sunday at ICC Sydney from 2pm to 6pm to beat the rush.
Here’s the morning sessions you won’t want to miss:
How AI Is Making Brand More Human, Not Less
9:30am, Cockle Bay 1
CX leaders from major industries reveal how AI is transforming customer engagement—enhancing trust, loyalty and human connection from check-in to check-out.
Turn SXSW Sydney Connections into Real Opportunities
9:30am, Room C3.3
A practical session on how to follow up after SXSW Sydney, with strategies for turning new contacts into lasting relationships, partnerships, and collaborations.
Play To Thrive - Turning Fun Into Your Greatest Strategic Asset
10:00am, Room E3.1 & E3.2
Dr Kate Renshaw, Camey O’Keefe, and Reanna Browne explore how play drives healing, creativity, and performance, showing why structured play is a powerful advantage.
Using Neuroscience To Thrive In Uncertain Times
10:00am, Room E3.6
Dr Hayley North reveals how neuroplasticity can boost resilience, reduce stress, and improve mental health in uncertain times with actionable, science-backed strategies.
Hard Tech, Fast Money: The Quantum Startup Hustle
10:00am, Room E3.3
NSW is becoming a global quantum hub. Founders, engineers, and investors reveal how breakthroughs are moving from lab to market—and how Australia can lead the quantum economy.
Building With Transparency: In Conversation with Dhanji Prasana
10:00am, Room E3.6
Dhanji explores transparency-first technology development, and how openness drives adoption, resilience, and innovation through examples like Block’s open-source AI assistant Goose.
Boring Can’ts: The ‘Rules’ of Comms We All Need To Break
10:00am, Room C2.5 & C2.6 (Short Talks Stage)
Alex Myers (Manifest) challenges the “rules” of brand communications, sharing case studies on how breaking conventions can unlock more effective, creative campaigns.
The Augmented Advantage: Redefining Australian Ingenuity In The Digital Era
10:00am, Parkside 2
Explore how Australia’s leading innovators are harnessing “The Augmented Advantage” — the power of human creativity amplified by technology — to drive growth, innovation and next-level customer experiences.
Main Character Energy
10:00am, Room C2.2
Bianca Hunt discusses themes from her book Main Character Energy, with a reading and conversation on navigating tall-poppy culture, career challenges, and building confidence in your own story.
AI in Action: AI Strategy and Real-World Impact
10:00am, Room E3.5
Industry leaders from retail, healthcare, finance and construction reveal how AI is reshaping operations, driving efficiency and sparking new opportunities across every sector.
In (Un)Loving Memory: How To Kill Meeting Culture
9:15am, Cockle Bay 2
Avani Prabhakar (Atlassian) explores how a “meeting rejected” culture can unlock productivity and reshape the way knowledge workers collaborate.
You Can’t Always Ban What You Want
9:15am, Room E3.7
PROJECT ROCKIT’s National Youth Collective share their lived experiences and vision for young people’s rights in shaping the future of the internet.
Beyond The Podium: The Case For Elevating Australian Sportech
9:15am, Room C3.3
A powerhouse panel unpacks why Australia lags in sportech innovation, and how building a sustainable sportech sector could secure the nation’s future sporting edge.
Does Wikipedia Know It All? What Gets Left Out And Why It Matters
9:30am, Cockle Bay 1
Discover who and what gets left out of Wikipedia — from underrepresented voices to cultural blind spots — and how diversifying its editors could reshape the world’s largest reference work.
Hating And Loving Ourselves: The Impact of What We Consume
9:30am, Room E3.6
This panel explores how authentic representation in film, television and pop culture can shape identity, shift perspectives and inspire more inclusive storytelling for future generations.
Creativity + Marketing + AI = The New Business Imperative
9:30am, Room C3.5
Learn how leading brands are using data, creativity and AI to craft more human, high-impact campaigns, and how you can apply the same strategies to captivate your audience.
Dudes In Curly Wigs Broke Work In 1760, It’s Our Job To Fix It
9:30am, Room C2.5 & C2.6 (Short Talks Stage)
Discover how reimagining workplace systems through connection, play and joy can unlock human potential and transform work into a space where people thrive.
Charged For Change: How EVs & AVs Are Driving The Energy Revolution Globally
9:30am, Room C2.3
Doug McNamee (JOLT), Jonathan Williams (Polestar) and Emma Foley (Uber) examine how EV adoption is transforming consumer behaviour, cities, and energy models.
Scaling Australian Clean Tech: From Startup To Global Impact
9:30am, Room E3.1 & E3.2
See how Australia’s clean tech pioneers are scaling breakthroughs through smart investment, strategic partnerships and a global mindset.
The Budget Battle Showdown: Creative Refresh Vs Maximising Existing Assets
9:15am, Room E3.1 & E3.2
An interactive, data-driven debate where industry leaders go head-to-head on whether brands should double down on proven campaigns or risk it all with a bold creative refresh.
Rewriting The Rules
9:15am, Room Room E3.7
A candid conversation on rethinking leadership, storytelling and innovation to drive real progress in food and climate amid a rapidly changing world.
Where Did All The Intelligence Go?
9:15am, Clear Hayes House - Harajuku Gyoza Beer Stadium
Explore how the most ambitious brands are reigniting human creativity and shared ambition to outthink — not just out-automate — the competition.
Prescribing Music: Innovation in Healthcare and Wellbeing
9:30am, Room E3.6
Clinicians, researchers and innovators reveal how music and technology are transforming healthcare—from personalised sound therapies to AI-driven healing.
The AI-Powered Bionic Revolution Has Already Begun
9:30am, Cockle Bay 2
Dr. Aadeel Akhtar reveals how AI, robotics and human-centred design are redefining ability and driving a new era of accessible bionics.
Diamond-on-Chip: A Clear Signal In Quantum
9:30am, Room C2.3
From deep tech to diamond-on-silicon, Prof Jim Rabeau shares how quantum sensing is moving from the lab to life-changing applications.
What I Learnt About My Product When My Town Burnt Down
9:30am, Pyrmont Theatre
Tim Cadogan (GoFundMe) shares firsthand lessons from the LA wildfires, exploring how tech can strengthen resilience, rebuild communities, and shape the next decade of giving in Australia.
Taylor Swift Was Right: It’s Me, I’m The Problem, It’s Me
9:30am, Room C2.5 & C2.6 (Short Talks Stage)
Dr Lili Sussman leads a session on identifying blindspots in leadership and personal growth, with practical insights to help you unlock your full potential at work and in life.
Safeguarding Brand Integrity and Trust in an AI-Driven World
9:30am, Room C3.5
Industry leaders unpack how to harness AI’s creative power responsibly—building transparency, trust and brand integrity in an age of machine-made content.
Why AI’s Best Gift is Making Us More Creative
9:15am, Cockle Bay 2
Leaders from JLL, System Operating, Liminal Collective and Bond University reveal how AI is redefining work—freeing teams from emails, meetings and slides to focus on creativity and connection.
Everybody Wins: How to Build A Trillion-Dollar Music Economy
9:15am, Room E3.1 & E3.2
Joel Edmondson presents a vision for blockchain in music, showing how new financial models can build a fairer, more inclusive, and resilient global music economy.
Cycling for the Future: Inspiring Healthy, Safe and Happy Cities
9:15am, Room E3.6
Discover how the freedom of cycling can inspire safer, more vibrant and people-focused cities, from Rotterdam to Sydney.
The Kitesurfing Kings of Tech
9:30am, Cockle Bay 1
Join Shivaune Field (Forbes) in conversation with visionary innovators Lars Rasmussen (Google Maps) and Bill Tai (Canva, Zoom and Twitter angel investor) as they discuss transformative tech, AI, green energy, community-building, and the bold opportunities shaping founders, investors, and innovation this decade.
Brainwaves to Bottom Line: Neuromarketing in Modern Advertising
9:30am, Room C2.5 & C2.6 (Short Talks Stage)
Discover how neuromarketing reveals the brain’s response to marketing stimuli and learn practical psychological insights you can apply to boost impact and business results.
Getting AI Ready: Navigating The Disruptive Uncertainty of the AI Revolution
9:30am, Room C2.3
A neuroscientist’s blueprint for overcoming fear, embracing change and building national and organisational AI readiness.
I’m Listening With Dr Ariella: Medicine in a New Era featuring Amy McLennan
9:30am, Room E3.9 (Podcast Stage)
In this live recording of I’m Listening with Dr Ariella, Dr Ariella Heffernan-Marks and Associate Professor Amy McLennan explore how culture, technology and human experience are reshaping the future of healthcare.
Who Deserves To Live? Changing The Conversation Around Drugs
9:15am, Room C2.3
A confronting conversation on how stigma and inequality shape who receives care and who is cast aside in the world of drug use and policy.
Fireside Chat: Zero Risk Startup
9:15am, Cockle Bay 1
Paulo Andrez (EBAN) and Ana Barjasic (Connectology; European Innovation Council) share strategies from Zero Risk Startup on evaluating ideas, securing funding, and using AI for smarter risk management.
How The AI Revolution Is Making Quantum Tech A Reality
9:15am, Room E3.1 & E3.2
Q-CTRL CEO Michael Biercuk explores how quantum technology and AI are converging to unlock unprecedented control over nature at its most fundamental level, reshaping the future of human innovation.
How Do You Stack Up? The Indie Agency Health Check
9:15am, Clear Hayes House - Harajuku Gyoza Beer Stadium
Discover the patterns, pitfalls and profit benchmarks every indie agency leader needs to know to grow with clarity and confidence.
Why Your Brand Won’t Survive 2050 (And Frankly, Deserves To Die Sooner)
9:30am, Room C2.5 & C2.6 (Short Talks Stage)
Marcus Willis (Kill Boring Dead) and Shanice Leung (Vibes) call out boring marketing and challenge leaders to ditch safe ideas for bold, disruptive creativity.
A Strategic Dialogue about Global Cybersecurity and National Security
9:30am, Cockle Bay 2
Join Mike Rogers (CyberCX), Lieutenant General Michelle McGuinness, and Deputy Secretary Brendan Dowling for a high-level fireside chat moderated by Hugh Riminton, exploring the critical intersection of cybersecurity and national security. Together, they’ll examine emerging threats, international cooperation, and how digital warfare is reshaping defence strategy and global stability.
Widening the Lens: Leadership Pathways for CMOs
9:30am, Room C3.3
A forward-looking discussion on how CMOs can expand their influence beyond marketing—into boardrooms, transformation roles and leadership pathways built for the future.
Behind The Scenes - The New Creative Specialists Enabling Innovation
9:30am, Room C3.5
Discover how creative innovators are turning safety, access and sustainability into the new catalysts for storytelling and audience trust.
SXSW Sydney Pass collection opens on Sunday 12 October at ICC Sydney. For details about where to collect your pass throughout the week, head to the Attendee Hub.
Don’t have your pass yet? Secure yours now and dive into a week of breakthroughs, bold ideas, and unforgettable moments at SXSW Sydney 2025.
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